One Team, One heart: how a validator falls in love.
Cosmos, as we have already said several times in our previous articles, is an active ecosystem that grows and develops from day to day. More and more frequently, thanks to this attitude of the blockchain 3.0 par excellence, we see the birth of new projects, some of which are really worthy of note.
But in all this universe of unicorns and brilliant ideas there is a shadow: unfortunately, every validator has limited time and resources and must necessarily know how to evaluate and identify the projects to which he wants to contribute more sacrificing many others.
This is exactly what happened yesterday with Cosmostation, which announced on Twitter its willingness to disengage from the project “Terra”. And there is nothing wrong or unjust in all this.
Simply as validators sometimes you believe you can contribute actively and decisively to some projects rather than others.
And that’s why we’re here to talk to you about Bitsong, Regen Network and Kava. Because we want to tell you what made us fall in love with their vision. And because that’s what drove us to become their validators.
Always the two of us, always in front of two coffees.
And I’ll drink both of them, as always.
Bitsong
R - I heard of Bitsong quite a few months ago reading an article of The Cryptonomist. I immediately thought it could be a great project in order to completely disrupt the music industry now lead by giants such as Spotify, Apple Music and so on.
I think that having a blockchain-based music streaming service could help to improve how artists are paid based on how much their tracks are reproduced.
With Bitsong, they will be paid per each reproduction, with lower fees than the one that Spotify currently charges. This could be the factor that allows the music industry to develop faster than ever. If artists are paid more fairly, they will produce more music and the whole industry will become bigger as a whole.
Technologically speaking, I think they are making progress very fast. Their Github repository is very active and they keep improving the chain as soon as a bug arises. They also launched their first testnet 3 months ago, and since then we didn’t have much trouble going through the setup and start validating.
I really hope they will do well in the near future, keeping the pace they’ve set up since now.
D - I personally focused my attention on the Bitsong project a few months ago, just like Riccardo.
To push me however beyond the mere superficial curiosity was certainly Angelo Recca. Seeing him expose daily with passion on Cosmos Italia Telegram all the progress and achievements that was reaching the team of Bitsong, made me want to document more thoroughly about their project.
At first glance, I was certainly pleasantly surprised by the extreme professionalism with which the site is presented, with refined attention to both graphics and communication.
There is therefore no doubt that Bitsong was born keeping in mind the basic needs of an artist.
Because there’s no point in running around: a tool like this, intended to be used by countless users for entertainment, must excel both in the concept and in the immediacy of its use.
So, about the withepaper.
Damn, that’s cool too!
And the most incredible thing is that it really has the hearth of an authentic revolution.
I’m always very disappointed when I feel that Bitsong is trivialized without any knowledge of the cause or by hearsay.
Bitsong puts for the first time the power of music in the hands of the artist, so that he can send us his music without filters from record companies
or from intermediaries of any kind. A degree of intimacy and immersion decidedly new.
Without forgetting the fact, not at all secondary, that the artist in total autonomy will be able to check at any time the wallet to see updated its performance in real time.
Absolutely pro music and especially pro quality and originality!
Regen Network
R -
Oh God, guys… Regen Network, just: wow!
I can’t even describe how much I do admire this community! Since I’ve known the project, I was a big fan of the work they’re doing. Trying to solve some of the biggest problems of our planet with the blockchain is simply brilliant.
I love the fact that they’re using one of the most innovative technology out there in order to fix a problem that involves one of the most ancient work: agriculture.
They already made huge partnerships with important organizations such as the Rainforest Foundation US, Blueplanet, Kiss The Ground and many many others. They’ve also recently been accepted as participant into the Techstars acceleration program, which indeed tells us how well their missions is seen worldwide.
Another strength of the whole project is surely their code base and their developers. You can’t image how much I esteem Ethan, Aaron and specially Joe, with whom I’ve had the pleasure to spend the whole Berlin’s HackAtom night coding — even though we never spoke to each other due to the high load of work we had to do. The speed at which they implement new features and fix bugs amazes me every day. If you want to see with your eyes what I mean by that, you can check out their official Github repository !
I’m 100% sure that if they will keep the pace they have right now this is surely going to be one of the biggest projects on Cosmos and I really hope they will be able to accomplish what they are aiming for.
D - That’s it.
In front of such a project, I can’t help but remain silent.
Because it is clear the scope of Regen Network, but above all we all understood the momentous turning point that could bring. And it is precisely in the greatest weakness of the human being: his conflicting relationship with the land that gave him life.
I’m not going to talk about teams, partners and awards, as it’s enough to follow their social channels (do it) to stay up to date on all the goals that are reaching exponential speed.
I won’t even talk about goals because I don’t think I have the expertise to evaluate such a movement and add the value it deserves.
The only thing I really want to point out to you is that we are finally able to listen to the voice of nature and reward those who really put their all into it to take care of it.
For all the other information I refer you to their whitepaper.
Because the time for lazy disinformation is over. it’s time to act.
So give it an extra chance to our planet:
Read the whitepaper and share it. NOW.
Kava
R - Where do I start with this? Maybe, from the fact that I will be forever grateful to Ruaridh for the enormous help he gave us during the Berlin HackAtom.
That’s actually where I learnt about the project and what they are aiming to do: implementing a system that allows you to create a stable coin backed from any token (in this case, the Kava).
I really think this is probably one of the hardest things to do due to the fact that it requires a particular high level of knowledge not just in crypto, but also math, economy and many other subjects. However, having had the pleasure to meet part of the team, I really think that the people working on this project are between the few that are able to achieve such an ambitious goal.
We can see this even from their Github repo where the incredible Kevin and Ruaridh himself are pushing commits each and every day, implementing new features and squashing existing bugs.
The enormous participation they had in their first testnet is surely another hint that tells us this project will become huge inside the crypto world, and
I personally cheer for their success every day that passes by.
D - Since Kava’s team is made up of such concrete people that they don’t even want to get their hands dirty with marketing stuff like whitepaper, let’s talk about what they really care about: numbers.
- At the launch of the test-net they already had 150 validators.
- Kava has 1800 users. Almost 1/5th of Cosmos.Network (11000).
Let’s face it, these guys have decided to do one thing — to use the interoperable functionality of Cosmos combined with DeFi applications that are a godsend for traders all over the world — and they are carrying it out with their strengths in a flawless way.
Less is the new black.
Go guys!
Final thoughts
D - There are two main factors that make me personally incline towards a project.
One is the enthusiasm and passion of those who are part of it. Because unfortunately, ideas are not enough when you find at three in the morning to have to change part of the software or to have to finish at all costs to compile the documentation for the accountant. And systematically so it is.
You have to work hard and be always available to users, and this you are able to do only if you believe in your project.
The second criterion is based on the benefits it would bring. Because, yes, there are many really well thought out and built blockchains.
But which of them really have the power to change something?
Which will really bring a tangible benefit, whether in everyday life or in the way they would facilitate access to this fantastic technology making it even more inclusive and affordable for everyone?
R- I personally think that choosing between the huge amount of projects that are constantly being born is very hard nowadays. Most of the top 20 validators on the Cosmos Hub already have an handful of project for which they are also validators, and I don’t think many are actively searching for new projects to join, due to the fact that — as Daniela said on the introduction — it is very time consuming. On the other hand, I think that many small validators do not know that they can use their existing setup in order to join other networks, which is what I would love to see:
more involvement from the whole community and not just the top tiers validators.
On a personal note, I really think the projects we chose to become a validator of are going to change our future each on in its own unique way, and I can’t wait to see when it will happen. In the meanwhile, I’m also looking out for new projects that we could join as validators and help their community grow providing tools and help as we can. So, stay tuned in order to always be updated on the latest news we got for you!
